Editing Yalu River (section)

==History==
[[File:The Yalu River - 鸭绿江2.jpg|thumb|The Yalu River at [[Ji'an, Jilin|Ji'an]], [[Jilin]]]]

The river basin is the site where the ancient Korean kingdom of [[Goguryeo]] rose to power. Many former fortresses are located along the river and the former capital of that kingdom was situated at what is now the medium-sized city of [[Ji'an, Jilin|Ji'an]] along the Yalu, a site rich in Goguryeo-era relics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1135/|title=Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom|first=UNESCO World Heritage|last=Centre|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref>
[[Wihwa Island]] on the river is historically famous as the place where, in 1388, General Yi Songgye (later [[Taejo of Joseon]]) decided to [[Wihwado Retreat|turn back his army southward]] to [[Kaesong]] in the first of a series of revolts that eventually led to the establishment of the [[Joseon|Joseon dynasty]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/06/10/2011061001158.html |title=What Is Hwanggumpyong Island? |author=Jeong Woo-sang |publisher=Digital Chosun |date=10 June 2011 |access-date=1 March 2012}}</ref>

The river has been the site of several battles because of its strategic location between Korea and China, including:

* [[Battle of the Yalu River (1894)]] – [[First Sino-Japanese War]]
* [[Battle of Yalu River (1904)]] – [[Russo-Japanese War]]
* [[Battle of Chongju (1950)|Battle near to the Yalu River (1950)]] – [[Korean War]]

The southern side of the river was heavily industrialized during the period of [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese rule]] (1910–1945), and by 1945 almost 20% of [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]'s total industrial output originated in [[Korea under Japanese rule|Korea]].

During the [[Korean War]], the movement of [[United Nations]] troops approaching the river, despite repeated warnings by China not to, precipitated massive Chinese intervention from around [[Dandong]]. In the course of the conflict every bridge across the river except one was destroyed. The one remaining bridge was the [[Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge]] connecting [[Sinuiju]], North Korea to [[Dandong]], China. During the war the valley surrounding the western end of the river also became the focal point of a series of [[dogfight]]s for [[air supremacy]] over North Korea, earning the nickname "[[MiG Alley]]" in reference to the [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15|MiG-15]] [[fighter aircraft|fighters]] flown by the combined North Korean, Chinese, and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] forces.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Budiansky |first=Stephen |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/922630824 |title=Code warriors : NSA's codebreakers and the secret intelligence war against the Soviet Union |date=2016 |isbn=978-0-385-35266-6 |location=New York |oclc=922630824}}</ref> As UN forces during the Korean War advanced toward the Yalu, China under Chairman [[Mao Zedong]] entered the war on the side of North Korea under dictator [[Kim Il Sung|Kim Il-sung]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Shu Guang, October 31- |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32510849 |title=Mao's military romanticism : China and the Korean War, 1950–1953 |date=1995 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=0-7006-0723-4 |location=Lawrence |oclc=32510849}}</ref>

The river has frequently been crossed by North Koreans fleeing to China since the early 1990s, although the [[Tumen River]] remains the most-used way for such refugees.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyqUw0WYwoc| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/DyqUw0WYwoc| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=What North Korean Defectors Think Of North Korea &#124; STAY CURIOUS #1| date=4 December 2016|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

According to one scholar, the Korean-Chinese border along the Yalu River is the longest unchanged international border in history, lasting for at least 1,000 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2021/07/739_287299.html|title=Oldest border in the world|date=Apr 5, 2020|website=koreatimes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4s2it6HVE| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/sc4s2it6HVE| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=외국인 할아버지가 한국인에게 경복궁 투어를?! 첫번째 밋업! (Dr. Peterson's First Meet-up! Palace Tour)| date=14 December 2019|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBHRaYuHP4A| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/kBHRaYuHP4A| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=하버드 한국학자가 말하는 한국은 평화로운 역사를 가진 나라?! 소개편 Peaceful Korea – Introduction| date=19 April 2020|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:Broken_Bridge_on_Yalu_River.jpg|The pillar stubs of the [[Yalu River Broken Bridge]] between Dandong and Sinuiju, which was established in 1911 and destroyed during the Korean War. The bridge to the left is the [[Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge]], which opened to traffic in 1943 and also fell to destruction by US aerial attacks during the war but was successfully repaired after 1953 (direction of photo looking south into North Korea).
File:Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge across the Yalu.jpg|The Sino–Korean Friendship Bridge across the Yalu (Amnokgang) linking [[Sinuiju]] and [[Dandong]].
</gallery>